Patrick Poon

from Liu Xiaobo’s last statement, “I Have No Enemy”:.
“Hatred can rot away at a person’s intelligence and conscience. Enemy mentality will poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and hinder a nation’s progress toward freedom and democracy. That is why I hope to be able to transcend my personal experiences as I look upon our nation’s development and social change, to counter the regime’s hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred with love.”

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[…].
“My dear, with your love I can calmly face my impending trial, having no regrets about the choices I’ve made and optimistically awaiting tomorrow. I look forward to [the day] when my country is a land with freedom of expression, where the speech of every citizen will be treated equally well; where different values, ideas, beliefs, and political views … can both compete with each other and peacefully coexist; where both majority and minority views will be equally guaranteed, and where the political views that differ from those currently in power, in particular, will be fully respected and protected; where all political views will spread out under the sun for people to choose from, where every citizen can state political views without fear, and where no one can under any circumstances suffer political persecution for voicing divergent political views. I hope that I will be the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisitions and that from now on no one will be incriminated because of speech..
Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth. To strangle freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, stifle humanity, and suppress truth.In order to exercise the right to freedom of speech conferred by the Constitution, one should fulfill the social responsibility of a Chinese citizen. There is nothing criminal in anything I have done. [But] if charges are brought against me because of this, I have no complaints.”,

PATRICK POON 潘嘉偉 is a researcher with Amnesty International. He was a former Vice President of Independent Chinese PEN Centre, founded by Liu Xiaobo and other Chinese writers. He was among a few Hong Kong activists who attended the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo in 2010 when Liu Xiaobo was in prison. A former journalist, Poon is studying for his PhD at the University of Lyon and writing a chapter on Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and cultural relativism of freedom of expression. He received his first degree in comparative literature and literature in English from the University of Hong Kong.